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The House and Senate return to session this week following the midterm elections and have a number of items to address during the lame duck session. NAFCU's award-winning advocacy team will be on Capitol Hill engaging with lawmakers and working to advance credit union priorities before the end of the year.

NAFCU is pushing for relief under the Bank Secrecy Act, data security and NCUA's risk-based capital (RBC) rule before the year's end. NAFCU will also be engaged as the Senate is expected to take up a number of pending nominations, which could include Kathy Kraninger to lead the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection; Rodney Hood's nomination to serve on the NCUA Board has yet to be taken up by the Senate Banking Committee.

Congress must also finish work on government spending, including the financial services and general government (FSGG) appropriations measure, and reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program before it expires Nov. 30. NAFCU has heavily advocated for full funding for the NCUA's Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF) and Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which is included in the Senate-passed version of the bill. Both Senate- and House-passed bills include full funding for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) 7(a) and 504 loan programs, which are used by credit unions.

The association is also monitoring the House Ways and Means Committee, which is expected to work on a tax extenders package for certain temporary or expired tax breaks before the end of the year. The committee also plans to advance a bill to make technical corrections to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Of note this week:

• Federal Reserve Vice Chairman of Supervision Randal Quarles is set to deliver the regulator's semiannual report to Congress tomorrow before the House Financial Services Committee and Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee. NAFCU is scheduled to meet with Quarles later this month to discuss findings from the association's annual Report on Credit Unions.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee today will discuss the 2008 financial crisis and the bailout of big banks. NAFCU has released a white paper promoting a modernized Glass-Steagall Act in order to protect consumers from banks that are too big to fail.

• NAFCU's Regulatory Committee meets today – see what's on the agenda here.

• Tomorrow, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger is helping build a house for an active duty Marine serving in the Wounded Warrior Regiment with Habitat for Humanity.

• The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) meets tomorrow. The board recently agreed to proceed to a vote to finalize NAFCU-sought changes to its current expected credit loss standard; a final update is expected to be issued before the end of the year.

• The NCUA Board meets Thursday and is set to finalize its 2019 and 2020 budgets. Get a recap of NAFCU Board Chair Jeanne Kucey's remarks to the board on the proposed budgets and see what else is on the agenda here.

• The Federal Reserve continues to hold town halls on its proposal to develop a 24/7/365 real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service to facilitate interbank settlement of faster payments.

NAFCU is also offering two webinars this week:

• Today, credit unions will get a basic overview of third-party vendor contracts, including how to minimize risks and which provisions to pay close attention to. Register here.

• Tomorrow, credit unions will learn how to leverage resources to become more competitive in an economy where consumers are increasingly sharing – rather than buying – things. Register here.